The Longleng Wonder

It was at a roosting site at the Yaongyimchen Community Reserve in Nagaland’s Longleng district in October 2016 when the migratory wonder bird Amur Falcon, since then named Longleng, was satellite-tagged and tracked on its amazing flight to Somalia in Southern Africa. Longleng is now being back to India and expected to return to Nagaland in the next few days. According to reports, the bird had to take a pause in Southern Odisha because of Cyclone Fani. It is incredible that the bird, after leaving the African continent, made a four-day non-stop flight over the Arabian Sea and then flew along the coast of Gujarat and entered India over Surat! In fact, since 2013, altogether eight such birds had been satellite-tagged to track their flights as they would migrate over lands and seas, but signals from seven of them have been lost due either to the birds dying on their ways or to fall of the satellite-tracking devices from their bodies. The lucky falcon that is still alive and well on its flight mode, is Nature’s biological marvel. It is truly amazing that the falcon should have such high sustenance level both from the biological point of view and in terms of aerodynamic skills. Such creatures on earth can be useful models too for research in the field of aerodynamics, which can lead to some hitherto unheard aeroengineering theses. If one were to talk of an interdisciplinary study and research area, it could well then be a fusion of biology and aerospace engineering. Any takers? After all, as a rapidly growing knowledge economy, some of our best engineering institutes can surely take the lead if they so desire.